MUANSA 



Muansa OR MWANZA. Port of 

 Tanganyika Territory, E. Africa. 

 At the S. end of Lake Victoria, it 

 is situated at the N.E. entrance of 

 Muansa Gulf, 231 m. S. of Kisumu. 

 Before the Great War there was a 

 large export of hides and ground- 

 nuts, via Kisumu and the Uganda 

 Rly. Muansa was captured, July 14, 

 1916, by a British force under 

 General Crewe, who advanced from 

 this direction upon Tabora. It is 

 a wireless and telegraph station 

 and the administrative centre of 

 the prov. of Muansa. Pop. 3,000. 



Much Ado About Nothing. 

 Romantic comedy by Shakespeare. 

 While the friends of Beatrice and 

 Benedick plot successfully to bring 

 about their marriage, Don John, 

 bastard brother of the prince of 

 Arragon, plots to make Claudio, 

 the prince's favourite, think that 

 Hero, his betrothed, is unfaithful, 

 but is thwarted by the unwitting 

 agency of the simple-minded con- 

 stables Dogberry and Verges. 



The play, in which tragedy, 

 comedy, and farce are blended, 

 was first printed in quarto in 

 1600. The scene is laid in Messina. 

 Much of the plot is Shakespeare's, 

 but he derived materials from 

 Bandello's Timbreo di Cardona, 

 1554 ; the story of Aridante and 

 Genevra in Ariosto's Orlando 

 Furioso ; and 'that of Phaon and 

 Claribel in Spenser's Faerie Queene. 

 To the modern mind the main 

 interest in the play is in the 

 characters of Benedick, a lord of 

 Padua, pledged to bachelorhood, 

 and Beatrice, a lady as apt at scorn- 

 ful speech as disdainful of men, but 

 full of nobility of soul, displayed in 

 her defence of her cousin Hero. 

 Beatrice and Benedick afford 

 perhaps the earliest examples of 

 character development in Shake- 

 speare's plays, the first being a 

 favourite impersonation with Mrs. 

 Abington, Mrs. Siddons, and Ellen 

 Terry ; the second a favourite 

 with Charles Kemble, Macready, 

 Charles Kean, and Henry Irving. 

 A notable modern revival was that 

 at The Lyceum, Oct. 11, 1882, 

 when Irving played Benedick, 

 Forbes-Robertson Claudio, Jessie 

 Millward Hero, and Ellen Terry 

 Beatrice. 



Much Wenlock. Name for the 

 parish in Shropshire which forms 

 part of the borough of Wenlock. 



Mucic Acid. White crystalline 

 powder. It was first prepared by 

 Scheele in 1780 by the action of 

 nitric acid on milk sugar. Fourcroy 

 and Vauquelin afterwards dis- 

 covered that it could be made 

 from various gums and mucilages, 

 and they gave it its present name. 

 Mucic acid is isomeric with 

 saccharic acid. 



5574 



Mucilage (Lat. mucilago, from 

 mucus, slime). Aqueous solution 

 of gum. Though applied generally 

 to any solution of gummy matter 

 in water, the word properly de- 

 scribes the sticky, viscous liquid 

 rather than that which is clear and 

 transparent. Tragacanth, exuded 

 from the stem of Astragalus 

 gummifer, imported from Smyrna, 

 is the thickest kind, absorbing 

 50 times its own weight in water 

 when melting, but it is a weak 

 adhesive, and is used chiefly in 

 thickening colours for calico print- 

 ing ; for making pills and ointment ; 

 and in the manufacture of fila 

 ments for electric bulbs. 



Mucilage is a constituent of 

 many trees and plants, and is 

 obtained from the trunks and 

 boughs of cherry, elm, and various 

 acacias, e.g. A. arabica ; from 

 seeds, e.g. linseed ; roots, e.g. 

 marsh mallow ; and stems. It is 

 also obtained from glue, gelatin, 

 and British dextrin. Starch 

 mucilage is used for making 

 enemas ; casein from cheese or 

 curdled milk forms a strong 

 mucilage which is not affected by 

 damp or water ; dextrin gives a 

 clear fluid ; gelatin and glue muci- 

 lage must have glycerine or an 

 acid mixed with it to keep it 

 liquid. See Gum. 



Mucin. Substance consisting of 

 protein combined with a carbo- 

 hydrate derivative. It occurs in 

 epithelial cells and forms the chief 

 constituent of the cementing sub- 

 stance between cells. It is found 

 also in the saliva, gastric juice, 

 bile, etc. See Mucus. 



Muckers (Ger. Mucker, hypo- 

 crite). Fanatical sect of German 

 mystics. It was founded about 

 1835 at Konigsberg by two 

 Lutheran pastors named Diestel 

 and Ebel. The members, who 

 were mostly connected with the 

 German aristocracy, Frederick 

 William IV being said to hold 

 their views, professed to lead a 

 life of " higher purity," with the 

 result that grave charges of 

 immorality were brought against 

 them, and their leaders were 

 degraded from the ministry and 

 imprisoned, 1839-42. 



Muckross Abbey (Irish, Hue- 

 ros, peninsula of the pigs). Ruins 

 of a monastery for conventual 

 Franciscans founded by Donal 

 MacCarthy More in 1440 in co. 

 Kerry, Ireland. On the site of an 

 earlier building, and known also 

 as Irrelagh, the abbey was 

 occupied until 1589. It was 

 several times restored, but finally 

 destroyed in 1652. The ruins, 

 with the adjacent house and park, 

 were purchased in 1899 by Lord 

 Ardilaun. See Killarney. 



MUDAR 



Mucoid. Substance resembling 

 mucin, forming a cementing sub- 

 stance in certain kinds of tissue. 



Mucous Membrane. Mem- 

 brane composed of epithelium on a 

 basement layer. It contains mu 

 cous glands, and lines the cavities , 

 and canals of the body which j 

 communicate with the external j 

 surface, such as the alimentary 

 canal and bladder. 



Mucus. Word of Greek origin, 

 meaning the secretions of the 

 mucous membranes. It is applied 

 especially to the secretions of the 

 nose in human beings, but also to 

 those of snails, slugs, and other 

 molluscs. 



Mud. In geology, name given 

 to finely divided debris of rocks. 

 Muds vary in colour according to 

 their composition. Blue mud 

 deposits are so coloured by fer- 

 rous sulphide, and are found in 

 large areas over ocean bottoms 

 near the coast, and sometimes ex- 

 tend for 200 in. from land. Blue 

 mud deposits are particularly pro- 

 minent along coast-lines in the 

 Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian 

 oceans. Red mud contains ferric 

 oxide, and green mud glauconite. 

 The latter occurs in formations 

 known as greensand, and is found 

 off the E. coasts of N. and S. 

 America, Australia, etc. See Rock. 



Mudar (Calotropis gigantea). 

 Evergreen shrub of the natural 

 order Asclepiadaceae, native of 



Mudar. Leaves and Bower cluster oJ 

 the evergreen shrub 



India. The large, opposite leaves 

 are broad, wedge-shaped, and 

 woolly on the under side. The 

 handsome rose and purple flowers 

 are clustered in umbels. A smaller 

 species (C. procera), native ol 

 Persia, has white flowers, with a 

 purple spot on each petal. Both 

 plants yield an acrid, milky juice, 

 used, as is the bark of the roots, as 

 a remedy for skin diseases ; and 

 the inner bark of the younger 

 branches provides a valuable fibre, 

 which is applied to the same uses 

 as that of hemp. 



